South Side's Club Cafe returns and hits all the right notes

When the doors to South Side music venue Club Cafe opened to the public for the first time in seven months — promptly at 7 p.m. — on Thursday night, the line of those waiting stretched to the corner of the block.

That’s not too surprising, since the reopening night show was aready sold out.

The much-loved music space closed down at the end of 2024, and many in the Pittsburgh music scene were sure it was the end of an era. But then, in late April, a group of passionate new owners announced that Club Cafe would be coming back. And they didn’t waste any time bringing musicians and fans together again.

Considering the quick turnaround time, it’s not too shocking that no major changes were made to the space. It looks a little spiffier, and the walls are now crowded with music memorabilia. But overall, the venue would be immediately recognizable by anyone who’s spent time there in the past.

As the packed house prepared to see local singer-songwriter Paul Luc take the stage with his band, new owners Maddy Lafferty and Danielle Mashuda took over the mic to say a few words.

“Tonight’s a really special night. Paul Luc and Clinton Clegg, I feel, are singlehandedly responsible for getting me back into the Pittsburgh music scene. … They all just mean so much to me. They were my favorite concerts here and I was going back through all the photos when Maddy asked me about wanting to buy this,” Mashuda said, growing emotional as the crowd whistled and cheered. “It just means so much that everyone’s here tonight and we’re coming full circle.

“We hope to just make it better and keep it going forever and ever,” she added.

Lafferty revealed that, starting Monday, Club Cafe will be opening as a bar every day — not just on concert nights. They also plan to bring back the open mic night that served as a proving ground and debut for a generation of Pittsburgh musicians.

Things were running smoothly for the new-old club on Thursday night. Paul Luc took the stage at just about 8 p.m., playing through an upgraded sound system that brought to life every note his backing band played — and made every word he sang understandable, which is important when you’re a songwriter.

Luc was also feeling the positivity. He’s been hanging around at Club Cafe for 20 years. “It’s such an important place for me. I dated bartenders here and got my heart broken, wrote some songs about it. I saw so much good music here and I’m so happy.” He even brought some of his own treasured memories to hang on the walls.

Both of the bands who performed Thursday night filled up the small stage, even to the point of overflow. As Luc and the band played Americana-tinged songs about heartbreak, the stage lights flashed and pulsed in a rainbow of colors, adding another dimension to the music.

“Fork in the Road” was a highlight of the set, with an earthy and sweet feel and Luc’s voice let loose at the end of the second verse. They turned things up a notch with the high-octane “Bad Seed” and the club’s acoustics did a great job of balancing both the crashing loud sections and the more intimate quiet sections of the song.

He also played some new songs, which he announced would be happier. “Good as Gold” does have a certain pep in its step, it’s true. Then he played the country-infused “Restless Mind” and ended by getting the crowd to sing along with “Stranger to Me.”

“I’m hanging out with a bunch of friends, my friends are going to come up and play after this, my friends bought this club. What more are you asking for?” he asked, toasting the crowd.

The Commonheart came up not too long after, once again crowding onto the stage. Frontman Clinton Clegg started everyone off with some love and a whole lot of funk.

With a stellar horn section, the band jammed through extended live versions of their songs that got the crowd cheering. Clegg’s rough-but-powerful voice was the perfect complement to an emotional night.

From breezy, funky jams to soulful waltzes, the band’s tunes often started out restrained and built into jamfests that found guitars, saxophone and trumpet taking turns on immaculate solos. Clegg bobbed his head and stalked the small stage clapping along, encouraging all of his bandmates.

“Night one,” Clegg said. “I left college in 2007 and I moved to the South Side of Pittsburgh, and I heard about an open mic at this place called Club Cafe. … It’s beautiful to be here opening this place tonight, thank you so much.”

They played a bouncy, summery cover of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love” that got the crowd swaying, but there were more suprrises in store. Clegg announced that they would play several new, never-before-heard songs.

All of the new ones were great, but they varied from slower country-soul to more driving with taut basslines to bluesy bangers. Members of the audience danced along and cheered at the top of their lungs, and Clegg declared his love for playing new music.

The band took the crowd on an emotional journey with the lengthy “Half at Home in Love” and then the audience exploded when they heard the fuzzy, familiar opening to Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”

While adding in some extra layers of instrumentation, The Commonheart kept their cover pretty faithful. Everyone sang along, especially the repeated “Oh, Lord, yeah!” line that punctuates each verse.

Things got quiet as the rest of the band left the stage and Clegg played a couple of songs on his own, sometimes with the help of guitarist Mike Minda. He broke out another tribute to the recently deceased Ozzy Osbourne with an acoustic cover of “Changes,” which he claimed he just learned to play that morning. With his Chris Stapleton-esque voice, the song took on another mournful dimension.

He also played “Spain,” a wistful tune that he said was born at Club Cafe at Monday night open mics.

The band came back for one last all-out eruption of joy, pulling all of the club’s new owners onstage and promising to “take everyone to church, if that’s OK.” Over the perfect insanity of guitar, bass, drums, keys, horns and backup singers, Clegg sang “I’m having a good day at Club Cafe” over and over again as the stage crowded with grinning people clapped along.

As each musician really pulled out all the stops for the grand finale of Club Cafe’s opening night, Clegg gave a hug to each of the new owners and the crowd chanted “Club Cafe! Club Cafe!”

Small venues like this matter. They matter for locals who have been following their favorite bands for decades and for kids just old enough to drink who are finding their voices under the stage lights for the first time. They matter for a community, especially for the community of amazing artists who are constantly growing here in Pittsburgh. And they matter to the people in the crowd who are singing along to a favorite song that’s never been on the radio but still means the world to them.

We’re lucky to have Club Cafe back.